BRFD: More than a dozen rescued from fire

BATON ROUGE - Firefighters said 13 people were rescued from a burning apartment building in Baton Rouge Tuesday afternoon.

The fire happened at the Savoy Plaza Apartments at 502 Wooddale Boulevard, according to Baton Rouge firefighters.

Firefighters said two men jumped out of their window to escape from the fire. They initially reported it was a child who jumped. The apartments are enclosed, so all the smoke was trapped inside the building.

"When I opened the door, the smoke immediately hit me. If I held out my hand, I couldn't see it, that's how bad it was," said Carl Morrison, who escaped the fire.

One person was taken to the hospital by EMS. Residents told us they are not being allowed into their apartments until the area is deemed safe and that Baton Rouge Police will monitor the area overnight.

Investigators said the fire started due to a pot left on a stove in a downstairs apartment. Firefighters said unattended cooking is the number one cause of house fires in the U. S. each year, and that Tuesday's fire required 60 firefighters to contain and put out.